~~~~~
Flame Tree Hill
by
Mandy Magro
Fiction-GENERAL
Book-Review-The-Two-Lost-Mountains
The Two Lost Mountains
(Jack West Jr, #6)
by
Matthew Reilly
Matthew Reilly’s The Two Lost Mountains is the sixth in the series of Jack West Books, follows directly on from The Three Secret Cities. Again Jack West Junior is doing battle with the various leaders and influencers of The Four Legendary Kingdoms.
Initially I found The Two Lost Mountains difficult to read. The first third of the book seemed to take forever to read while the latter two thirds passed very quickly. Although, overall, I enjoyed The Two Lost Mountains I find that I am growing tired of our heroes doing battle with the same or similar, villains. And I hear there is a One lost/found/missing title still to come.
As usual, The Two Lost Mountains sees Matthew Reilly putting Jack West through all sorts of trials in his efforts to outwit and defeat the leaders of The Four Legendary Kingdoms.
As with all the Jack West books The Two Lost Mountains may be read as a standalone novel or as book six of the series. If you are new to Matthew Reilly books be prepared for references to Secret Cities and Four Legendary Kingdoms. There references are only minor, in my opinion, definitely not long winded references as with some other authors.
I did not pick the ending although I was asking myself how Reilly was going to end this novel.
Matthew Reilly fans will enjoy
Jack West’s adventure.
I have rated
The Two Lost Mountains
as a
four star read.
At the time of completing my review
other Goodreads readers had awarded
The Two Lost Mountains
an average of 4.30 stars
from 1,660 ratings
and 186 reviews.
******
The Two Lost Mountains
can be purchased on-line at
Amazon, Booktopia, and Fishpond
Book-Review-Forever-Wild
Forever Wild
(The Simple Wild, #2.5)
by
K. A. Tucker
***
K. A. Tucker’s Forever Wild is a sequel to Wild at Heart and features Calla’s and Jonah’s adventures/romance in Alaska.
Both sets of parents are soon to arrive for Calla’s first Alaskan Christmas with Jonah at Trapper’s Crossing.
Tension mounts as in-laws arrive bringing with them their own ideas of right and wrong and causing clashes with Jonah mostly, while Calla simply changes the subject to diffuse arguments.
Jonah and Calla are more settled than the last time we paid them a visit. Their life is good except for one minor detail…a wedding date is still not fixed.
I thoroughly enjoyed Forever Wild and felt that some of the spark of the original Calla and Jonah (The Simple Wild) was back with us. Their personalities seem to have matured.
There is just one complaint about the Forever Wild novella, and that is simply that it is only a novella.
On the plus side it is probably the best novella I have read. Other novellas have left me wanting more. Forever Wild wrapped up all loose ends and even provides a nice ending which bodes well for another Wild book. For these reasons I am breaking my three stars only for novellas rule and have awarded Forever Wild four stars.
At the time of writing my review,
other Goodreads readers have rated
Forever Wild
an average of 4.43 stars
from 4,880 ratings
and 823 reviews.
I rated
The Simple Wild
as an enjoyable 
five star read.
At the time of writing my review
other Goodreads readers have rated
Forever Wild
an average of 4.43 stars
from 4,841 ratings
and 820 reviews.
***
Forever Wild
can be purchased online at
Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon
***
Book-Review-When-the-Snow-Gums-Dance
When the Snow Gums Dance
by
Anne McCullagh Rennie
When the Snow Gums Dance another enjoyable read by Anne McCullagh Rennie, commences in Snow Gum country in Victoria’s Alpine region and features Kylie Harris who is the ski queen of her local district.
Neither Kylie nor her sister Gwen is happy when their parents decide to move to Dunk Island to run a resort. The girls want snow and so they decide to head off Canada’s Whistler snow fields to work the season. While in Whistler they are asked to stay on and work the next season in Aspen. A big mistake!
After returning to Australia Kylie’s next move is into aid working in Papua New Guinea. While there she bumps into Danno a boy who she had teenage crush on many years prior. However, again fate intervenes. After completing her time in Papua new Guinea she is only days away from returning to aid working, this time in Sri-Lanka, when fate deals another card.
Legend has it that if two people kiss beneath the snow gums, the result will be a love greater and more potent than any other on the face of the earth. The question is, will Kylie find her one true love after a snow gums kiss?
When the Snow Gums Dance is an easy read, fast paced, romance by Anne Rennie. It is devoid of coarse language and heavy sex scenes. When the Snow Gums Dance, a breath of fresh air after reading other novels which almost revolve around the bedroom.
If you like good clean storylines I feel certain that you will love Anne McCullagh Rennie’s novels.
I have rated
When the Snow Gums Dance
as an enjoyable
read/audio
~~~~~
At the time of writing my review
other Goodreads readers
have awarded
When the Snow Gums Dance
an average of 3.47 stars
from 30 ratings
and 7 reviews
~~~~~
When the Snow Gums Dance
can be purchased online at
Fishpond, Booktopia and Amazon
~~~~~
Book Review-Reach-For-the-Dream
Reach For the Dream
by
Anne McCullagh Rennie
Reach For The Dream by Sydney author, Anne McCullagh Rennie, was my second novel by this author. Rennie is fast becoming one of my favourite authors.
Shortly after the death of their mother, eight year old, Alice and younger brother, Ben and also lose their family home and any connection they had to their mother when their house burns to the ground.
Their shearer father palms of his children to live with his sister and her family, where both settle in fairly well with the exception of an obnoxious female cousin.
Alice loves the outback and soon she and Ben have plans to start a sheep stud from which they will breed the best wool in the country. However, the best laid plans are often thwarted by fate and jealous cousins.
Alice moves to London where she works successfully as part of a research team, for half a decade or more.
Upon her return to Australia she purchases land near Bilabrinn where her aunt lives, and commences to pursue her dream of breeding the best wool Australia has ever seen. Although many of the locals just want her to breed…a woman’s place is in the home… and all that.
If you like good clean storylines and Outback Australia I feel certain that you will love Reach for the Dream.
I have rated
Reach for the Dream
as an enjoyable
read/audio
~~~~~
At the time of writing my review
other Goodreads readers
have awarded
Reach for the Dream
an average of 3.95 stars
from 41 ratings
and 8 reviews
~~~~~
Reach For the Dream
can be purchased online at
Fishpond, Booktopia and Amazon
~~~~~
Book Review-Dirty-Empire
Dirty Empire
Dirty Empire Book #3
by
Nina West/K. A. Tucker
************
Dirty Empire, book three of the Dirty Empire series by K. A. Tucker, aka, Nina West, continues with the Mercy and Gabriel relationship within Easton crime family. Being book three of a series and it would be better if books one and two were read first. I make this suggestion because all three books have had surprise cliffhanger endings the aftermath of which is the beginning of the next book. However, both Gabriel Fallen and Dirty Empire could be read as standalone short novels as long as you don’t mind not knowing all the details of the previous book.
Dirty Empire is the first of the Trilogy where bedroom antics do not overshadow the story line. Where Mercy is concerned, a softer, more human side of Gabriel emerges. However, regarding ‘business’, the brothers Easton show their harder side in Book Three.
Whether readers like, or dislike, detailed descriptions of his love life (Books 1&2), I think many readers will read the series just to find out what happens in the next book. All three books have moved along at a cracking pace and all three have had totally unexpected cliffhanger endings.
The fourth book of the Dirty Empire Trilogy (this is not a typo-see Goodreads Sweet Mercy blurb) is to be published in September 2021.
At just over 200 pages the Dirty Empire series could be labelled a series of short novels.
******
At time of completing my review
other Goodreads readers
have rated
Dirty Empire
an average of 4.02 stars
from 403 ratings
and 81 reviews.
*****
I think
Dirty Empire
is a
read.
*****
Dirty Empire
can be purchased on-line at
Fishpond, and Amazon
Unavailable at Booktopia,
Book Review-Gabriel-Fallen
Gabriel Fallen
Dirty Empire Book #2
by
Nina West/K. A. Tucker
Gabriel Fallen book two of the Dirty Empire series by K. A. Tucker, aka, Nina West, continues on with Mercy and Gabriel’s steamy relationship intensifying.
When reviewing Sweet Mercy I commented that Sweet Mercy reminded me of the Pretty Woman movie and Fifty Shades of Grey book. Gabriel Fallen is all Fifty Shades. The other thing which I find interesting is the number of times we read about Gabriel’s calloused hands and how he is using them. I confess to not knowingly reading a passage where Gabriel is working with his hands, so, where do his callouses come from? Certainly not from any of the activities so widely written about in the Dirty Empire series.
The graphic descriptions of Gabriel’s sexual antics continue unabated in Gabriel Fallen, to the extent that it seemed there was very little other plot. Mercy accepts that Gabriel is not an angel and manages to convince herself that what she is doing has an upside.
I think most readers will read the series just to find out what happens in the next book. Both completed books have moved along at a cracking pace and both have had cliffhanger endings.
I have again rated Gabriel Fallen a three star read. At just over 200 pages the Dirty Empire series could be labelled a series of short novels.
******
Other Goodreads readers
have rated
![Gabriel Fallen (Dirty Empire Book 2) by [K.A. Tucker, Nina West]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/419Vr7BDWbL.jpg)
Gabriel Fallen
an average of 4.19 stars
from 816 ratings
and 121 reviews.
***
I think
Gabriel Fallen
is a
read.
Gabriel Fallen
can be purchased on-line at
Fishpond, and Amazon
Unavailable at Booktopia,
Book Review-Sweet Mercy
Sweet Mercy
Dirty Empire Trilogy Book #1
by
K. A. Tucker / Nina West
I only borrowed Sweet Mercy because I thought K. A. Tucker had co-authored with Nina West. Not finding any mention of K. A. Tucker in the book I turned to Google only to discover that Tucker also writes under the pseudonym, ‘Nina West’
I think it maybe best that Nina West accepts the credit for Sweet Mercy because it is nothing like the Burying Water or Simply Wild series. In fact, had I read this book first and known it was a K. A. Tucker book I probably would not have read the Water and Wild books, or anything else bearing Tucker’s name.
Sweet Mercy commences with Mercy visiting her father in prison. During the visit she notices Gabriel a good looking bloke visiting a hardened underworld criminal. Gabriel also notices Mercy. One thing leads to another and she ends up living with and falling for Gabriel.
To say the living arrangements are raunchy would be an understatement. Likewise, some may not approve of the graphic descriptions of sex scenes. However, most of my life has be spent working in ‘rough’ workplaces and while parts of Sweet Mercy were out there with the roughest workmate I can think of, the language and descriptive passages did not offend me. That is not to say that I enjoyed it, either.
While the Sweet Mercy plot reminded me of the Pretty Woman movie, the narrative was definitely Fifty Shades of Grey.
******
Other Goodreads readers
have rated
![Sweet Mercy (Dirty Empire Book 1) by [K.A. Tucker, Nina West]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41Izr8x7JZL.jpg)
Sweet Mercy
an average of 4.04 stars
from 1,201 ratings
and 194 reviews.
***
I think
Sweet Mercy
is a
read.
Sweet Mercy
can be purchased on-line at
Fishpond, and Amazon
Unavailable at Booktopia,
Book Review-The-Three-Secret-Cities
~~~~~~~
The Three Secret Cities
(Jack West Jr, #5)
by
Matthew Reilly
Prior to the release of Matthew Reilly’s new book, The Two Lost Mountains (Jack West #6), on Tuesday October 13th, to refresh my memory I decided to listen to previous books Three Secret Cities and The Four Legendary Kingdoms again after finding both in our library’s audio collection.
The Three Secret Cities is set immediately after The Four Legendary Kingdoms and Jack West is still trying to save the world while the underworld kings and villains are trying to eliminate, or help Jack because of his achievements in the underworld games. This is why I recommend reading The Four Legendary Kingdoms again simply because there are several characters, both villain and heroes, included in The Three Secret Cities, who were introduced in Legendary Kingdoms. Fortunately Reilly mentions the fact that characters have been part of Legendary Kingdoms and does not dwell on their part in that story.
Again The Three Secret Cities sees Matthew Reilly putting Jack West (Junior) through all sorts of trials in another action packed adventure which contains enough characters, mythical or otherwise, to make his story almost believable. It’s nearly two years since I read The Three Secret Cities and rated it as a five star read. I think it still worthy of another five star rating in 2020.
Matthew Reilly fans will again fall in love with Jack West’s adventure.
After my second read of
The Three Secret Cities
I have again rated it
a fast paced action packed
five star read.
At the time of completing
this review (October 2020)
other Goodreads readers had awarded
The Three Secret Cities
an average of 4.32 stars
from 4,866 ratings
and 504 reviews.
******
The Three Secret Cities
can be purchased on-line at
Booktopia, and Fishpond and Amazon,
Book Review-The-Four-Legendary-Kingdoms-2020
The Four Legendary Kingdoms
by
Matthew Reilly
2020
Recently I noticed two things of interest. First Matthew Reilly’s new book, The Two Lost Mountains (Jack West #6), is due to hit the shelves on October 13.
Second, my local library had audio versions of The Four Legendary Kingdoms and The Three Secret Cities on their digital shelves. To refresh my memory I decided to listen to previous books Three Secret Cities and The Four Legendary Kingdoms again after finding both in our library’s audio collection.
The Four Legendary Kingdoms was as good the third time as it was the first. As usual, Mr Reilly’s action hero was full of action, overcoming the odds to win where he should not.
The Four Legendary Kingdoms is set around games of a mythical origin with competitors ‘selected’ to compete from all around the world. So what better way to work Scarecrow into an adventure which is primarily a Jack West (Huntsmen) book? And that is the only part of the story I will reveal here. Fans of all things Matthew Reilly will love the plot/storyline, as I did.
After my third read of
The Four Legendary Kingdoms
I have again rated it
a fast paced action packed
five
read.
At the time of completing this review (September 2020)
other Goodreads readers had awarded
The Four Legendary Kingdoms
an average of 4.30 stars
from 7,152 ratings
and 692 reviews.
************
2019
It was recommended to read The Four Legendary Kingdoms again prior to reading Three Secret Cities, Matthew Reilly’s latest work. This was good advice as it has been a year or two since The Four Legendary Kingdoms was published and Three Secret Cities is a sequel which continues on from the end of The Four Legendary Kingdoms.
I do not normally re-read a book however; in this case it was well worth reading again. More to the point it was as enjoyable in 2018-2019 as it was in 2016.
